. >> what assad has done in syria is way worse than what's happening. >> no. let's not equalize them. but it's to make clear that the u.s. doesn't necessarily step in. >> it makes strategic calculations about what its interests are. but in the case of syria the worrying thing about the situation in syria, the first wave of this, particularly tunisia which was entirely nonviolent, the egyptian revolt which was nonviolent although skirmishes and different forms of violence, to the syrian movement which began as nonviolent and faced such massive brutal horrific massacres has armed themselves and has become a long bloody civil war that has profound regional consequences and fear of spilling out and hezbollah looms large. >> wish we had more historical depth how we look at this. this is the third arab state to be devastated by a civil war. without pointing fingers of blame, lebanon for 15 years was devastated by civil war. foreign armies, foreign intelligence services. after the u.s. invasion in 2003 iraq went through a different but similar process. >> let's point